See the 1850s Russian Hill mansion that just sold for $11 million

The home has four-bedrooms and three bathrooms on the upper level, including several with private outdoor space.

The home has four-bedrooms and three bathrooms on the upper level, including several with private outdoor space.

Photo: Vince Valdes

Photo: Vince Valdes

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The home has four-bedrooms and three bathrooms on the upper level, including several with private outdoor space.

The home has four-bedrooms and three bathrooms on the upper level, including several with private outdoor space.

Photo: Vince Valdes

See the 1850s Russian Hill mansion that just sold for $11 million

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Situated atop the Broadway Tunnel in Russian Hill, 1032 Broadway has been on and off the market for several years, trying to achieve its $12-million asking price.

Buyers weren't willing to go quite that high, but it was one of the few properties this year to break the $10-million mark when it sold for $11 million late last month.

Sellers' agent Neal Ward attributed the sale to the "strength of the market coupled with recent IPOs," which he said brought a "new wave of buyers and energy to the property."

He added that buyers loved the "historic positioning" of the 1853 property, as well as its private feel. Much like novelist Danielle Steel's home does so famously a few blocks away, the property employs some high hedges to create a separation from the street. Yet the upper levels of the nearly 4,000-square-foot home remain unobstructed to take in what Ward calls the "dead-on views of the city."

(You can get a rare look behind the greenery in the slideshow above, as well as this video from when the home first came to market back in 2014.)

The hedges were already in place when the sellers bought the property back in 2008 for just over $4 million. According to Ward, they made "significant upgrades" to the four-bedroom, 4.5-bath home in the intervening 10 years, as well as kept up with the major maintenance and repairs needed in a home of this size and vintage.

Neal said a "change of lifestyle" prompted the desire to put the home on the market several years back. He believes the lengthier marketing period is par for the course at this rarified price point.

"Buyers at any price point often know exactly what they want, especially at this end of the market," he said. "In the ultra-luxury market there are many factors that go beyond price per square foot when establishing a price for a home. As agents, it is our responsibility to communicate the value of those factors to buyers. Buyers at any level of the market have more access to information and are more informed than ever before, so sometimes communicating these additional factors can take time."

Emily Landes is a writer and editor who is obsessed with all things real estate.